SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 17 



ing motherless animals with their flattened sides, feeble movements, 

 and languid cries, and the well fed, rounded, romping ones that are to 

 be seen in pods along the beach playing in the shallows. 



I fear that this question of dead pups is not fully understood, nor 

 are its lessons appreciated by the nations most deeply interested in 

 the preservation of the seals, otherwise some steps would be taken 

 immediately to put an end to the present mode of sealing at sea. 



From the most reliable data at hand I find that during the nine years 

 beginning with 1880 and ending with 1894 the following numbers of 

 seals were taken by pelagic sealers: 



II 



Year. Number. Year. Number, i Ycur. Number. 



1886 29,000 I 1890 0(5.000 , 18!M 142,000 



1887 45,000 ! 1891 '. 78,000 



1888 51,000 1892 85, oou Total 662,000 



1889... 57,1100 189:5 109.000 ! 



I venture the assertion that the killing of that number entailed a loss 

 of not less than 1,500,000 seals on the herds on both shores of Bering 

 Sea, 



So constant and so rapid has been the decrease of the seals on the 

 Pribilof Islands, that in 1894 the only sign of increase to be observed 

 over last year was among the large young bulls who were unable to 

 find cows with which to form harems of their own. There were more 

 idle bulls of breeding age on the rookeries than there were bulls with 

 harems on the breeding grounds. 



That the seals are steadily decreasing to an alarming extent, and 

 that the principal cause of such decrease is pelagic sealing, can not 

 longer be denied. 



That the regulations adopted at Paris do not protect the female seals 

 in Bering Sea has been proved the past season beyond the possibility 

 of doubt, for never before in the history of the business did the pelagic 

 sealers take so many seals as in 1894. 



I therefore respectfully recommend that immediate steps be taken to 

 amend the regulations, and that an international agreement be made, 

 if possible, by which there shall be no sealing in Bering Sea for three 

 years or until the rookeries have had time to recuperate from their 

 present depleted condition, and other arrangements be made for the 

 adequate protection of the females in the future. 



If such an arrangement can not be arrived at, then I should advise 

 the immediate killing of every seal on the Pribilof Islands rather than 

 allow the islands to be used as a nursery for the propagation of an 

 animal that is to be destroyed before our eyes by the subjects of another 

 nation. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Pursuant to instructions dated May 5, 1894, Prof. Charles H. Town- 

 send, of the United States steamer Albatross, was permitted to take a 

 suitable specimen bachelor seal for the use of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion. 



GUARDING ROOKERIES. 



On September 1 a lieutenant and a boat's crew of armed marine guards 

 were landed on each of the two islands, where they remained until 

 November 1, when they were taken off by the revenue cutter Bear. 

 S. Doc. 137, pt. 1 2 



